Solar panels are being employed increasingly in the production of renewable energy for commercial and residential uses. It is already well established that mounting solar panels correctly is crucial to maximizing energy production, and is an important way to provide stability and to protect the solar panels from the effects of the natural elements.
Various support systems are known for mounting solar panels on rooftops, ground racks or tracking units. Typically, these support systems are costly, labor intensive to install, heavy, structurally inferior and mechanically complicated. It is particularly disadvantageous that most existing support systems require meticulous on-site assembly of multiple parts, performed by expensive field labor. Of course, the on-site assembly work is often performed in unfavorable working conditions, i.e. in harsh or inclement weather. As a result, misalignment of the overall support assembly often occurs, which can jeopardize the supported solar panels or other supported devices.
Even a stable, flat roof presents problems for the mounting of an array of solar panels. For instance, it is necessary to avoid any damage to the roof while securing a panel array that can be quite elaborate, and the stresses that are permitted on the roof structure itself must also be considered. Therefore, a need exists for a low-cost, uncomplicated, and structurally strong support system and assembly method. A need also exists for a support system that achieves a precise configuration in the field without requiring extensive, specialized work at the installation site. Further, a need exists for a support system with a shipping configuration that allows the system to be easily handled in transit, while still facilitating rapid deployment at the installation site.
One attempt to provide such a support system is presented by Harberts et al. in United States Patent Application Publication 2010/0236183. In particular, Harberts et al. disclose a modular racking system for solar panels. The racking system includes a plurality of discreet ballast holders and a plurality of panel support members, each panel support member having two upright members of non-equal length and a transverse portion connecting together the two upright members. The relative heights of the two upright members define an inclination angle of the transverse portion, at which angle the solar panel is to be supported relative to the roof surface. Ballast material is removably positioned in more than one of the discrete ballast holders, and each discrete ballast holder is connected to no more than four of the panel support members. In this way, ballast material is positioned in front of and behind each supported solar panel, wherein the ballast material that is positioned between two adjacent rows of supported solar panels serves to anchor the rack modules in each of the two rows. Unfortunately, it is a limitation of the system that is described by Harberts et al. that the minimum spacing between the two adjacent rows of supported solar panels is dictated by the configuration of the ballast holders and by the size and height of the ballast material itself. As a result, even when the inclination angle is very shallow, it is still necessary to maintain a substantial spacing between the photovoltaic panels of the two rows.
It would be advantageous to provide a system and method that overcomes at least some of the above-mentioned limitations of the prior art.